The lion gate

The so-called Lion Gate takes its name from the relief depicting a lion devouring the head of a bull positioned above the entrance. The lion relief was not part of the original wall, but was placed here in the 5th century AD, in order to reduce the size of the gate and make it easier to defend. The relief is from a temple building and may date from as early as the 6th century BC.

The spring inside the gate was, during Roman times, associated with the cult of nymphs. An inscription in front of the well records that a citizen of Butrint, Junia Rufina, paid for its refurbishment in the 2nd century AD: “Junia Rufina friend of nymphs”

When it was first excavated, Christian motifs were discovered on the back wall of the well, suggesting that the pagan spring had been Christianised in the 5th or 6th centuries AD.

 

• The Lion Gate
• The Lion relief
• QTVR of the Lion Gate
• The well of Junia Rufina
• QTVR of the Well of Junia Rufina
• The cemeteries